TripAdvisor Inc.

Apple plunged 2.9 percent to send technology stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the biggest plunge since April. Biogen Idec Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. lost at least 3.3 percent as investors sold some of the bull market’s biggest winners.

U.S. stocks fell, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its biggest two-day loss since June, as concern grew that a deadlock among U.S. lawmakers over the debt limit could lead to a government default.

U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for the sixth time in eight days, after economists predicted the Federal Reserve will reduce stimulus in September as European data added to signs that the global economy is strengthening.

U.S. stocks rose, extending the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s record high, as a private jobs report showed companies took on more workers than estimated and the Federal Reserve said the economy is growing.